Walkway-grating



C. E. PAULSON.

WALKWAY (SEATING.

AIPLICATION FILED net. 24, 1917.

1,354,993 Patented Oct. 5,1920.

f 'T .7 T? I? 1 S H H H 1 1| B B b b 5 l H I II W ITN E 55 E S INVENTORWWW A3,, ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALKWAY-GRATING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

Application filed October 24, 1917. Serial No. 198,354.

To all whom't'it may concern:

Be it known-that I, CHARLES E. PAULSON, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing in Montclair, in the county of Es sex and State ofNew Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWalkway-Gratings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to walkway gratings, and is particularly useful forarea- Ways or openings in streets for lighting and ventilation, althoughsuch gratings may be used for various other purposes, such as guards,registers, platforms, stairways, etc. The object of my invention is toprovide a grating having a non-slip surface of neat appearance, and soconstructed as to use the material to the best advantage, with the leastamount of labor. It is also designed to provide a maximum amount ofventilation with the least obstruction to light, and with the componentmembers so combined and interconnected that they brace each other anddistribute the local loads throughout the grating members. A furtherobject is to avoid the use of expensive bending, iveting, or specialslotting arrangements, nd to eliminate all sharp angular crevices nowfound in some types of gratings in use, which have a tendency to catchpapers, hold dirt and moisture, and prevent thorough painting of thejoints.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a planview of a grating in which my invention is embodied inone form;

Figs. 2 and 3 are cross sections .onthe lines AA, B.-l3, Fig. 1,respectively;

Fig. 4 is a perspective of portion of the grating;

Fig. 5 is a cross section similar to Fig. 2,

showing various modified types of cross bars.

The grating as here shown comprises a series of parallel girdervb'ars ahaving a series of transverse holes punched at predetermined intervalsalong the upper portions of the girders. These holes intersect the edgeof the girder which forms the supportin face of the grating. Passingtransverse y through alined holes in the girders are cross bars I), thecross sections of which correspond to the contour of the holes. The sizeof the cross bars is such that they enter the holes in the girders onlyith a close, drive fit. They arev consethe grate and thus form anon-slip surface. In Figs. 1 to 4, the cross bars are shown square incross section, and so arranged that one of the corners of the squareprojects above the grate surface.

While, as stated, the cross bars I) are. driven through the holes in thegirders a with a drive fit, additional rigidity can be secured byhammering down the girder at the points 01: upon the cross bar; that isto say, on each side of the slot formed in the upper face inthe girderby the punching of the aperture to receive the cross bar; or again, ears3 may be offset from the metal of the cross bar adjacent the girders bya hammer and chisel or other tool.

By so arranging the cross bars that their larger diameter lies below thesurface of the grating, they are firmly locked in the girders, and nospecial operation is necessary to secure the cross bars in place.Moreover, this arrangement of the cross bars has the mechanical effectof transmitting local loads more effectively to adjacent portions of thegrating.

While a cross bar of square section b is preferred by reason of the factthat no special manufacture of this bar is necessary, it being astandard article on the market, bars of various other cross sections maybe utilized, and I have indicated some of these in Fig. 5 Thus, at c Ihave shown a cylindrical cross bar; at (Z, a triangular cross bar; andat e, a bar of trapezoidal section, at f an octagonal bar and at g asmall angle bar. In all of the constructions it will be noted that theupper portion of the crossbar projects slightly above the grate surface,and that the cross bar has a normal section of such shape that it is ofgreater diameter below the surface of the grate than-at the gratesurface, so that it is automatically locked in position when driven ininto engagement transversely of the girders.

Various other modifications will readily occur to those skilled in theart, which do not depart from what I claim as my invention. l

I claim as my invention:

1. A walkway grating comprising a series of" parallel rigid girder bars,spaced closely together to afford a foot support,

said girder bars being pierced by apertures intersecting the girders atthe face of the grating, and being of greater diameter below the face ofthe grating than at its surface, in combination with rigid cross barsdriven transversely through the holes in said girders and correspondingtherewith in their normal cross section.

2. A walkway grating comprising a series of parallel rigid girder bars,spaced closely together to afford a foot support, said girder bars beingpierced by apertures intersecting the girders at the face of the ating,and being of greater diameter beow the face of the grating than at itssurface, in combination with rigid cross bars driven transverselythrough the holes in said girders and corresponding therewith in theirnormal cross section, said bars extending slightly beyond the supportingsurface of the grating to afford a non-slip surface.

3. A walkway grating comprising a series of parallel rigid girder barsspaced closely together to afford a foot support, said girder bars beingpierced by apertures intersecting the girders at the face of thegrating, together with cross bars corresponding in section to theapertures in the girders and having a drive -fit therewith transverselyof the girders, one of said members being offset below the face of thegrating into engagement with the other member to lock the partstogether.

4. A walkway grating comprising parallel rigid girder bars spacedclosely together to afford a foot support, said girders being pierced byapertures intersecting said girders at the surface of the grating, incombination with cross bars of rectangular section driven through saidapertures transversely of the girders and having corner edges extendingslightly above the face of' the grating to afford a non-slip surface.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

CHARLES E. PAULSON.

